Markup languages such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and Extensible Markup Language (XML) are essential building blocks of technologies such as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Web services and the Internet. The wide acceptance of markup languages enables data communication across differing platforms, operating systems, web browsers, web and application servers and network equipment.
Validation of markup language documents, such as XML documents, may be used, among other things, to avoid undesired input and/or prevent malicious attacks. However, validation may degrade performance through consumption of time, memory and computing power.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity.